


Cold Ice, Warm Hearts

by LouiseLouise



Series: Christmas 2019 with the 118 [3]
Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Christmas Fluff, Fluff, Ice Skating, M/M, Meet-Cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-07
Updated: 2019-12-07
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:21:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 776
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21708157
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LouiseLouise/pseuds/LouiseLouise
Summary: What if Eddie and Buck met while Eddie's visiting his abuela in LA for the holidays with Christopher, before he even considered joining the LAFD?Written for the prompts "ice skating" fromthis list, and "meet cute at the ice rink" fromthis post.
Relationships: Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz
Series: Christmas 2019 with the 118 [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1560436
Comments: 12
Kudos: 331





	Cold Ice, Warm Hearts

**Author's Note:**

> Unbeta'd, English is not my first language, all mistakes are mine.

The Christmas fair is not too crowded and Eddie’s glad he let Christopher convince him to come, just the two of them. They’re staying at Eddie’s abuela in LA for the holidays and her house is never completely quiet this time of year.

Christopher insists on carrying his own drink and Eddie stands by his side as he does, hiding his fear of something bad happening every step his son takes, so when some adult passes them a little too fast and Chris spills the cup all over another guy who’s kneeling to lace his shoes, Eddie just prepares for the worse. 

Usually it goes like this. Christopher tries his best. Sometimes he fails. Someone gets angry about it and takes it out on the 7yo kid with crutches. Christopher hides his tears. Eddie apologizes to the adult jerk wishing he could just punch the rude out of the guy.

This time is different.

“Are you okay buddy?” the guy asks with the sweetest voice as he helps Christopher to stand still and keep his cup straight so he doesn’t spill more of his drink.  
“I’m sorry I spilled,” Chris says, concern and shame in his voice.  
“Hey that’s okay, I needed a shower anyway,” the guy says wrinkling his nose, “after all the ice skating I don’t smell very good,” he winks at Chris, making him laugh, and Eddie starts to breathe again, a little taken aback by the kindness radiating from that stranger.  
“You went ice skating?” Chris asks turning towards his dad. “Dad can we go too, please?”  
Eddie sees the smile and the pleading eyes, replacing the shame on his son’s face, and he knows he’s fucked. Every day Eddie tries his best to find the balance between making Chris happy and learning to say no, but some times are harder than others.  
The stranger stands up and holds out his hand for Eddie to shake. “Hi, I’m Evan.”  
“Eddie, and this is Christopher.”  
“Hello Christopher,” Evan says kneeling again to shake Christopher’s hand in a very serious manner. “Have you ever tried ice skating before?” he asks and Chris shakes his head no.  
“I’m not sure he, uh-” Eddie starts, not knowing how to explain that he has no idea if Chris could even stand on skates long enough.  
Evan seems to understand Eddie’s concerns and he stands up to face him. “Well if you wanna try, maybe a second pair of hands and arms can help?” Eddie frowns but Evan shrugs. “I have time, today’s my day off.”  
Eddie turns to see Christopher watching him, waiting for an answer. “Please, daddy?”  
“Okay, why not,” Eddie finally says, shaking his head as Evan holds out his hand low enough for the kid to give him a high five.

Christopher laughs the entire time they’re on the ice, enjoying both the skating and the conversation with Evan, whom Eddie knows is now considered his son's new best friend. 

“So, what’s this job you’re off from today?” Eddie asks. They’re helping Christopher take off the skates, as the afternoon is coming to an end.  
“I’m a firefighter with the LAFD,” Evan says with a smile.  
“You’re a firefighter?” Chris looks at him with wide eyes. “That’s so cool.”  
“Yeah it is buddy, I love it very much.”  
“I thought about doing that,” Eddie says, thinking about the list of possible careers he started writing, once he decided his military time was over for good.  
“Yeah?” Evan smiles, and Eddie thinks he may be developing an addiction to that smile. “We have a great training program, I can help you meet the right person to get in. I mean if you want.”  
Eddie shrugs. “I was an army medic, do you think you need one of those?”  
“I think we might, yeah,” Buck smiles even more widely, if that’s even possible.

-

“So do you just go around looking for every stranger in need,” Eddie asks, typing Evan’s contact info into his phone, “or did I just get lucky?” he jokes.  
“Serendipity,” Evan says. “If you believe in that.”  
“I’m starting to, yeah,” Eddie admits. 

-

“You haven’t stopped smiling since you two got back from the fair,” Abuela tells Eddie, handing him the onions for him to prepare, “what’s that for?” she asks.  
“You know how you always wish you could see Christopher more often?” he says, and she nods. “Might have found a reason to stay.”

-

“It’s the best program in the country,” he tells everyone when asked why he moved to LA. They don’t need to know Evan Buckley’s kind smile is all it took for Eddie to shake up his entire life.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!  
> Like always, kudos are welcome and comments are love ♥


End file.
